On Tuesday, November 26, Rao speaks at the Hayden about the Comet ISON, which on Thanksgiving Day will be passing within just 750,000 miles of the Sun’s surface. Should the comet stay intact, it will be clearly visible from Earth.

Recently, we spoke with Rao about Comet ISON and his career in meteorology.

In a special lecture, J. Craig Venter describes his current work and new book, Life at the Speed of Light, which illuminates the emerging field of synthetic genomics by detailing its origins, controversies, and potential effects on our future.